India Plans To Build a Moon-Orbiting Space Station By 2040 (space.com) 47
India plans to build a moon-orbiting space station by 2040 that will support crewed missions to the moon and serve as a hub for scientific research. Space Magazine reports: If all goes according to plan, the lunar space station will be completed around the same time the nation's astronauts land on the moon, with construction of a permanent base on the surface before 2050. The lunar space station appears to be the third and final phase of India's moon exploration efforts. [...]
The lunar space station may be similar to the one India plans to build in Earth orbit, known as the Bharatiya Antariksh Station, or BAS. The development of this station's first module, BAS-1, was greenlit by the Indian government in September. Officials have said the first module will be launched to low Earth orbit by 2028, and the entire station will be operational by 2035.
The lunar space station may be similar to the one India plans to build in Earth orbit, known as the Bharatiya Antariksh Station, or BAS. The development of this station's first module, BAS-1, was greenlit by the Indian government in September. Officials have said the first module will be launched to low Earth orbit by 2028, and the entire station will be operational by 2035.
Space Station for Sale (Score:2)
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I get the feeeling the ruskies are looking for the exit door anyway. They'd probably be happy to sell their side of it off for cheap.
Im honestly surprised Musk hasnt offered to buy the damn thing, though I'd imagine he has other plans
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I get the feeeling the ruskies are looking for the exit door anyway. They'd probably be happy to sell their side of it off for cheap.
Im honestly surprised Musk hasnt offered to buy the damn thing, though I'd imagine he has other plans
Considering the Russian module leaks [space.com] to the point they have to keep it sealed and use much lower pressure to none and only for temporary storage, and the likely formation of cracks throughout for whatever reason renders it unfixable, it sounds like the equivalent of a shady unheated self storage, with a leaky roof, wanly lit when it’s not flickering.
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India doesn't want to have to ask the US for permission whenever they want to send something in space. Otherwise, they'd have to follow whatever the US tells them to do.
Re:Space Station for Sale (Score:4, Informative)
The USA can offer them fractional space station ownership
Much of the rationale for India's space program is political.
The goal is to give Indians pride in their country and inspire kids to be engineers and astronauts while helping to reelect Modi.
India won't get that as tenants in someone else's space station.
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India won't get that period, Modi will use it to funnel some money to some fuckheads, and nothing will come of it. This is some running-before-walking horseshit that would probably fail even with good intentions, which are not involved here.
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And the moon race wasn't at all....
By that time Musk will be on Mars (Score:1)
Unless you want to investigate whether the moon is an artificial structure, I don't see the point for all the interest in our moon.
The thing doesn't even rotate or something.
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It rotates.
One rotation per month.
Hence it shows us always the same side.
FACEPALM.
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It rotates. One rotation per month. Hence it shows us always the same side.
FACEPALM.
Look, if epicycles aren’t working, you simply aren’t using enough epicycles.
Re: By that time Musk will be on Mars (Score:2)
Re:By that time Musk will be on Mars (Score:5, Interesting)
Absolute bucket loads of resources in a minescule gravity well. If you want to start hitting up the planets, setting up a manufacturing FOB on the moon is a no brainer.
Astroid belt mining might be an even better move, but the moons got He3 , and thats potentially a *very* attractive fuel source if they ever figure the fusion shit out.
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the moons got He3
Cost-effective DT fusion is at least twenty years away, and He3 fusion is WAY more difficult than DT.
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I thought it was always 10 years away ;-)
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I thought it was always 10 years away ;-)
That's for energy breakeven.
Dollar breakeven is will take much longer.
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Helium-3 on the moon is the ultimate midwit trap.
Indeed. On a plausibility scale of 1-to-10, fusion with lunar He3 is a zero.
The lunar He3 advocates make the thorium fanbois look smart.
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I've been fusing DTs into Dark Archons for years!
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Its nice and remote so less chance of a bad experiment going terribly wrong. No population to wipe out. So long as we conserve its mass and orbit, we wont mess things up for us.
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India's priorities are fucked up (Score:4, Insightful)
Not only is sanitation rubbish but India has massively slipped on the food security index. 1/4 of the world's classified "undernourished" live in India. I get it that science has trickle down benefits to society, but there's a minimum threshold where you need to not focus on spending many billions to go to the moon and instead focus on the ability to feed your population and allow them to wash their hands.
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Sanitation can be added to another major problem India has: air pollution.
Re:India's priorities are fucked up (Score:5, Informative)
Oh and for comparison, the budget for their Rural Development agency is $21B / year.
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If you think the ISRO will be building a space station on the moon for $1.6B/yr then I highly recommend getting yourself committed to a room where the walls are made of fluffy pillows.
That is my point. I didn't say India needs to stop its space program, I said they shouldn't be focusing on going to the moon.
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India's space programme is profitable. Cutting it would mean even less money is available to address other issues.
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India's space programme is profitable. Cutting it would mean even less money is available to address other issues.
You're right, and no where did I say India's space program should be cut. In fact I'm right there with you, they should keep doing *WHAT THEY ARE DOING* rather than wasting billions on a moon space station that will most certainly drain the coffers.
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The moon station would probably make a profit too. They can offer it to commercial users who want a micro gravity environment, access to the moon's surface, time on the dark side for instruments or radio silence etc.
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Sure. We could go with that, if we ignore all of history of space stations. Why not just get the government to invest in bitcoin while we're blindly speculating.
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Are you saying this space station is going to reek of curry?
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Seriously. This is a glory project. It is like the nation is having a midlife crisis and goes off to buy a sports car while the house and marriage are falling apart.
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I came here just to see if there's that one guy trashing India about their combination poverty, hygiene and space program. I am not disappointed with the consistency.
Re: India's priorities are fucked up (Score:2)
âoeStupid Opinions for $500â
Wish in one hand and shit in the other. (Score:1)
A lot could happen in 16 years....or not ! (Score:5, Funny)
If the projection is that far in the future (Score:2)
Please! (Score:2)
GLHF (Score:2)
Good luck with that India. I seriously doubt they will come even close.